Temporalities of lead toxicity: Developmental theory,intergenerational exposure and environmental racism

Abstract

This article critiques how established developmental theories can account for the intergenerational transmission of environmental harm, with lead exposure as a paradigmatic case of racialised, cumulative and temporally layered toxicity. While existing research has identified prenatal, childhood and multi-generational pathways of exposure, developmental theories largely presume single-generation, individual-level pollution exposures and therefore overlook how environmental racism engrains toxic geographies across time. Drawing on critical concepts such as slow violence, weathering and racialised time, we analyse four widely used theories – the Process–Person–Context–Time/Bioecological theory, Life Course Theory, Dynamic Systems Theory and the Public Health Exposome – to assess how each engages with temporality, structural racism and collective harm. Lead's persistence in bodies, infrastructures and neighbourhoods provides an empirical anchor for evaluating how these theories can be used to conceptualise developmental trajectories shaped by past injustices that ‘haunt’ the present and foreclose futures for marginalised communities. Our analysis shows that while each theory offers partial insight, none fully captures the cumulative, racialised and intergenerational dynamics of toxic exposure. We therefore propose an integrated framework that draws from the strengths of each theory while explicitly incorporating multi-generational temporalities, structural racism and collective pathways of intervention, thereby offering a more complete foundation for understanding and addressing intergenerational environmental injustice.